Last week, in the Nass River Valley on the BC–Alaska border, FECPL PhD Candidate Andrea Reid partnered with a Parks Canada educator, John-Francis Lane, to lead a Salmon Science Kids Camp over March Break. Kids from the Nisga’a Nation, age 7–12, participated in a community-wide telemetry scavenger hunt in which they learned how radio transmitters work and how to find them using radio receivers. An outdoor nature bingo kept kids busy for hours as they searched the intertidal zone and coastal forest for ‘natural’ vs. ‘unnatural’ items in the environment, like pine cones vs. pop cans. Kids got creative as they made artwork for a Salmon Art Contest, and kept busy with games like salmon-scientist tag and sockeye-sockeye-coho (a new take on duck-duck-goose!) It was an honour for Andrea and John-Francis to be invited to lead this camp by the Nisga’a Gingolx Village Government following their December school presentations supported by a NSERC Aboriginal Ambassador Award, and they look forward to continuing to connect youth with science!
